I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for packet management and processing in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services can be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems can be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO), multiple-in-signal-out (MISO), or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
In various wireless communication implementations, information such as data, control signaling, or the like can be transmitted in the form of respective packets. Packets communicated within a wireless network can include, for example, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Protocol Data Units (PDUs), Service Data Units (SDUs), or the like. Further, various wireless communication devices can be configured with timer-based packet discard functionality and/or other similar functionality. In such an example, a discard timer is configured and applied to respective packets such that in the event that a given packet is not transmitted prior to expiration of the discard timer configured for the packet, the packet can be discarded in order to save over-the-air bandwidth associated with transmission of stale information.
Conventionally, upon expiration of a discard timer associated with a packet and subsequent discarding of the packet, the PDCP layer of an associated wireless communication device can be required to perform respective operations (e.g., PDCP header modification, ciphering recalculation, header compression updating, etc.) for all other packets that have been identified and queued for transmission but have not yet been transmitted. Thus, in the event that a large amount of packets are queued prior to a discard, it can be appreciated that required post-discard operations can be significantly resource-intensive, which can in turn degrade overall transmitter performance. Accordingly, it would be desirable to implement techniques for packet processing in a wireless data network that mitigate at least the above shortcomings.